TRADE: Emotional Ersatz

Some products sell particularly well in
depressions: necktiesbecause they are a cheaper way of sprucing up
than new suits of clothes; cansbecause canned food is generally
cheaper than fresh. From an announcement last week by the New York
Coffee & Sugar Exchange, it appears that coffee may also belong in this
special group. As it has in several depression years since 1929, U. S.
coffee consumption last year set a new high. The 1938 figure was 14.38
lbs. per person, up 1.34 lb. since 1937.

There are other explanationsthat Prohibition gave coffee drinking a
big boost, that high-pressure advertising plus...